The Dimes of Port Haven - Finale

Iosef trotted through the burning aisles towards the back office where he hoped to find Varner still alive despite the widespread carnage. He had his .357 magnum revolver in his right hand and a long curved knife in his left.

He peered through the circular windows in the doors separating the store proper from the back store room. Iosef snarled and growled to himself, "I should have known!"

+

Anfisa saw the last of Varner's guards fall to the concrete floor. She scanned the store room warily. She spotted her query, Macy, huddled under a flimsy table covered in hot dog buns next to an oddly colored pool of vomit. The girl appeared safe, if obviously terrified, so Anfisa continued scanning the room for danger. The door to Varner's office was open and the two men who had taken refuge inside it were dead. There was no sign of Varner himself.

Yana shook her head. She didn't see anyone left alive either. "I did not see Iosef among the bodies," Yana said disappointedly.

"Nor Varner," Anfisa answered. "At least the girl is still alive." She pointed with her shotgun at Macy's trembling form.

"Who cares about some stupid little girl?" Yana snapped angrily. "I came here to get my vengeance on that rat-bastard Iosef!"

"Sorry to disappoint," a familiar voice followed by a deafening retort from Iosef's signature revolver.

The bullet hit Yana just above her left ear and mushroomed inside her skull, ripping most of her stern, yet pretty face free when it erupted out the other side of her head.

Anfisa screamed and whirled to face Iosef. She leveled her shotgun at him and he smiled arrogantly back at her.

"You could not pull the trigger when your father's life depended on it. What make you thing that you can do it now? Face it, Anni, you are still in love with me."

A tear rolled down Anfisa's cheek. "I know." Then she pulled the trigger.

Iosef was sent flying backwards when the shot collided with his chest. He screamed in pain and his revolver clattered somewhere off to the side.

Anfisa stepped forward and looked down on her former lover sadly. Not surprisingly, Iosef was still breathing raggedly as he glared up at her, blue eyes full of hate. "You never did know when to give up." She shook her head and placed the muzzle of her shotgun against Iosef's forehead. She squeezed the trigger and this time the only thing left of Iosef's head was a bloody stain on the concrete.

Instantly, Anfisa felt exhausted. Her sister was dead. Iosef was dead. She had failed in her mission to keep Yana safe and capture Iosef for the police. The last five years had been for nothing! She reached under Macy's table and pulled her out.

"Please don't kill me!" Macy begged. "I'm sorry I threw up all the ice cream! I promise I won't do it again!"

"Calm down, there will be no more killing today, little girl," Anfisa replied tiredly.

"Oh. Well that's good. Can we go get some ice cream? I'm hungry!"

+

Arthur strolled down the hospital corridor with Sam at his side. They both held hands as they limped down the hallway together. It was a peaceful evening, most of the staff had gone home for the night, and all but a few of the other patients were asleep. In fact, their wing seemed almost eerily quiet tonight.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm so glad your mother finally left," Sam admitted.

"Not as glad as I am!" Arthur told her. She laughed and only winced in pain a little bit.

"Awww, isn't this sweet?" Desiree asked, her tone filled with venomous spite. "I remember when Bartlebee and I used to walk around holding hands like that. Until you betrayed him!"

Desiree pulled her arm back, throwing knife in hand, and took aim at Arthur and Sam. Both Arthur and Sam instinctively tried to shove one another out of the way, but in their weakened states the two of them just mushed together ineffectually as the knife spun through the air towards them. So shocked was Arthur by the surprise attack that when he and Sam toppled over to the cold, sterile tile floor he could not tell which of them had been stabbed.

Then he saw the blood draining out of Sam's neck.

Desiree's knife had hit Sam right in the jugular and blood was gushing forth violently. Sam tried to speak, but only wet gurgling sound came out. Her hand brushed weakly against Arthur's cheek, smearing blood across his face, and she leaned her forehead against his as the light slipped out of her green eyes.

Arthur struggled to his feet. Desiree glared at him in malevolent triumph. "I'd hoped your little bitch would die first so you'd know what it feels like!"

"Help! Somebody help! There's a lunatic on the loose!" Arthur shouted down the hall.

Desiree cackled gleefully. "Scream all you want, coward! Varner paid everyone off to make sure I could finish you."

Arthur looked from Sam's lifeless body to Desiree and back again. "Then finish it already," Arthur growled.

Desiree pulled another knife from her belt and charged at Arthur. Arthur stood his ground, waiting. At the last second he dodged to the side, grabbing a standing IV line waiting next to an empty wheelchair. He wrapped the plastic tube around Desiree's neck and pulled it tight. He tackled Desiree to the ground and she gagged, trying wildly to stab Arthur from the awkward angle of him lying on top of her back. Arthur held her like that until she stopped squirming.

Panting breathlessly, Arthur rolled off of Desiree. He sat on the floor, staring remorsefully at Sam's body. Hate and pain and sorrow and despair assaulted him from every angle. After a long time he stood up. He went into Sam's hospital room and grabbed her truck keys before sneaking out the side entrance to the hospital.

Arthur reached into the glove compartment and pulled out Sam's handgun. He set it on the seat next to him and started driving.

+

Arthur drove around town all night looking for Varner. He had no idea where to find the man now that Anfisa and Yana had apparently burned the grocery store to the ground. He wondered briefly if they had survived and if Varner had survived, but he kept driving until his eyes felt like they were about to bleed.

Then Arthur finally he saw him. Varner was standing on a busy street corner talking to the mayor. Arthur stopped Sam's truck in the middle of the street and stepped out holding Sam's gun. He was still in his blood covered hospital gown.

"Mr. Knob." Varner sneered at Arthur as he approached. Several bystanders, including the mayor, turned and ran screaming at the sight of him. "What in the world do you think you are doing?"

"Ending this," Arthur answered hollowly.

Varner scoffed. "Here, in front of all these witnesses? I think not. You see, Mr. Knob, I sincerely doubt you have the stones to murder me in cold blood, much less in broad day-"

Varner's last words were ended abruptly by a bullet from Arthur's gun. "Or perhaps I do."

+

Arthur had not expected any more visitors while he was in jail. Macy had come to see him, she looked like she had gained another ten pounds, she and Jimmy were evidently very happy together. His family had also called upon him, but the meeting had not gone well. Lots of screaming and crying by his mother and anxious, silent pacing by his father.

And yet here was a new visitor. Anfisa picked up the phone and quite pleasantly said, “Hello.”

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” Arthur asked warily. After all, Anfisa was an assassin and her sister had died helping rescue Arthur’s friend-or whatever Macy was in relation to him.

“I wanted to help you,” Anfisa explained. “A big time lawyer owes me several favors. I have called him on your behalf. He will get you off with some kind of temporary insanity defense.”

Arthur stared at her for a long moment. “Why would you do this for me?”

Anfisa smiled sadly. “I know what it is like to lose someone you love. I got a second chance, so should you.”

“Th-thank you,” Arthur stammered, not knowing what else to say.

+

Arthur felt strange walking into Big Stan’s diner without his rolls of dimes. He had actual paper money now. Money he had earned from working his legitimate job in the city about an hour away from Port Haven. This was his first visit back to his hometown since the trial ended six months ago. He walked up to the counter and sat down.

The tall brunette behind the counter looked up at him and her blue eyes bulged in surprise, but only for an instant. Then she put on her usual smirk and muttered, “That Damn Dime Guy, come to haunt my waking nightmare. The usual, I assume?” Abby was already writing down his order before he even opened his mouth to respond.

“That’s right,” Arthur answered with a smile. “And one more thing, Abby. I live in Tresburg now, how’d you like to let me take you out for dinner and maybe some dancing afterwards?”

Abby let out a short little bark of laughter. “Not a chance in hell, Dime Guy.”

The Dimes of Port Haven - Day 19

It was dark out when Arthur woke up again. His whole body ached. Nurse Duckett was sitting in a chair in the corner doing a crossword. She smiled at Arthur and set her puzzle aside. “How are you feeling?”

“Where’s Sam?” Arthur asked. “I need to see if Sam is alright.”

“She is fine,” Nurse Duckett assured him.

“Where’s her room?” Arthur sat up, which was clearly a mistake because colors swirled in front of his eyes, but he had never let good sense stop him before. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and mentally prepared himself to stand.

“For heaven’s sake! Are you always this stubborn?” She stood to push Arthur back down.

“Nuh-uh! I bite!” Arthur warned her when she got too close.

Nurse Duckett pursed her lips. “You are going to fall on your face if you do not let me help you.”

“Then I will crawl,” Arthur declared. He stood up and immediately fell on his face. He groaned more than he would have liked to admit, the fall had been quite painful.

Nurse Duckett tsked disapprovingly. “I told you that you would fall, silly American boy.” She knelt and helped him to his feet.

“No!” Arthur squirmed in her iron grip. “I need to see Sam for myself!”

“Stop fighting me,” she ordered calmly. “I am taking you to see her.”

“Oh.” Feeling foolish, Arthur let Nurse Duckett lead him out into the hallway. He found himself leaning against her for support as they walked.

Nurse Duckett opened a door to a room that held Sam and Nurse Cramer. Sam appeared to be sleeping soundly as Nurse Cramer watched over her. Arthur stumbled to Sam’s bedside and held her hand.

“How is she doing?” Arthur asked fretfully.

“Surprisingly well,” Nurse Cramer said. “The doctors say she will make a full recovery.” She rose from her seat and stood very close to Arthur. “Perhaps you would be so kind as to tell us what happened to you and your friend?”

+

“You are not the best, you are what I have left, do you understand? My asking you to do this does not make you special or favored in anyway. If you perform this task exceptionally well, then and only then will I feel inclined to grant you such kind feelings.” Varner took a sip of bourbon to dull the pain in his shoulder.

“Yes, Mr. Varner!” Teddy Peterson nodded eagerly.

“Good. Here is the girl’s picture, you’ve seen Arthur around here and you know what he looks like. If they’re smart they’ll have left town, check the bar she works at to see if anyone knows where they went. After that ransack their homes, the addresses are on the back of the photo. Now get out of my sight,” Varner commanded.

Teddy hastened to leave Mr. Varner’s office. He looked down at the photo Mr. Varner had given him. She was pretty, with bright red hair and feisty green eyes. Practically giddy for the opportunity to finally impress Mr. Varner, Teddy hurried out to his car and drove over to the Tipsy Slug to look for signs of Sam and Arthur.

Having spent the previous two years making minimum wage in Mr. Varner’s grocery store, Teddy had been delighted to be recruited earlier this year as a low level enforcer in Mr. Varner’s other business. And now he finally had the chance to make it to the big time!

Teddy checked that his gun was easily reachable in the shoulder holster hidden by his jacket, and entered the bar. Looking around, he was momentarily distracted by a girl with a great ass squeezed into jeans at least two sizes too small. Teddy knew how to appreciate a woman with curves so he took a second to admire her. When she turned around Teddy’s jaw dropped.

He held up the picture of Sam and looked from it to the girl with the nice butt and then back to the photo. Obviously, it was a fairly old photograph, because Sam had put on at least thirty pounds and dyed her hair brown since it had been taken.

Teddy walked up to Sam and discretely drew his gun, pressing it against her back. “Listen very carefully to me,” Teddy whispered. “Come with me and-”

“Is that a gun? OH MY GOD! HELP!” Sam screamed.

Teddy panicked. He hit Sam over the head with the butt of his gun and dragged her towards the exit. The pudgy idiot working behind the bar shouted at him and tried to grab Sam away from Teddy, but all he had to do was point his gun and the bartender backed down.

Drenched in sweat from the unexpected fear and excitement, Teddy threw Sam into the trunk of his car and raced back to the grocery store.

When he arrived in the rear parking lot, Teddy sat in his car trying to calm his hammering heart. “Shit, shit, shit!” he whispered to himself. He was supposed to have captured Sam and Arthur discreetly and then brought them back to Mr. Varner without causing a big fuss. Instead he had kidnapped Sam in the middle of a crowded bar full of witnesses and they had all seen him do it!

He was so screwed.

+

Jimmy wasn’t the last person that Arthur wanted to burst into Sam’s hospital room. But he was close.

Babbling incoherently and making a variety of animated arm gestures, Jimmy tried to communicate something he felt was important to him.

After about two minutes without a single understandable word having been uttered, Arthur decided he was in no mood for patience. He slapped Jimmy across the cheek.

It had the desired effect. Jimmy shook his head to clear out the last remnants of panic and finally explained himself. “Macy’s been kidnapped! A guy with a gun just walked into the bar and grabbed her! I called the cops, but they just said they’d look into it as soon as they were able to!”

Nurses Duckett and Cramer exchanged a confused look. “Your police did not respond immediately to an armed kidnapping?” Nurse Duckett asked.

Arthur sighed. “That means Varner is behind it. He basically owns the police station.”

The nurses shared another look. “The same man Sam too to the barn to shoot Priscilla?” Nurse Cramer asked pointedly. It was odd, as soon as Arthur had told them what happened at the barn she had ceased flirting with him. Relieving, but still odd.

“The very same,” Arthur told her.

Nurse Cramer said something in russian to Nurse Duckett that made Duckett shake her head and Cramer continue angrily in russian. Evidently Nurse Cramer won the argument, because she turned smugly to Arthur and declared, “We shall help you rescue Macy.”

“Yay!” Jimmy hopped up and down gleefully.

“Um...no offense, because I truly am grateful for the offer, but what exactly will two nurses, an idiot bartender, and a guy who just got shot in the ass do against Varner and all his hired guns?” Arthur asked.

Nurse Cramer smiled slyly. “We have not been exactly truthful with you. We are not nurses, rather...how do you say...hit women.”

+

Macy felt bad for her kidnapper. He had taken her into what looked suspiciously like the back of the town grocery store and then some old dude had gotten really upset with him and shot him in the groin. He was still alive, but in a lot of pain. He kept moaning. Macy wanted to help him, but she was tied up now next to a pallet of cereal boxes.

“Can I go home now? I have a headache and I’m hungry,” Macy complained.

“No. And shut up,” the old dude said meanly. He seemed like a really cranky guy.

“But I’m hungry and we’re in the grocery store!” Macy whined. “There’s so much ice cream here it’s making me sick just thinking about how close it is!”

The old dude just glared at her.

“Please! If I don’t eat any ice cream I’ll explode! That happens to me sometimes,” Macy explained.

“Fine! Jenkins, get her some damn ice cream,” the old guy snapped.

“But I’ll have to untie her to let her eat it,” Jenkins pointed out hesitantly.

“Then untie her!” old dude roared. “Does she look like a God-damn mastermind that’s going to escape quickly?”

“No, sir! Sorry, sir!” Jenkins ran to get some ice cream.

“Thanks, mister! What’s your name?” Macy asked.

“Just shut the hell up, Macy.” He shook his head perturbedly.

Macy gasped. “How do you know my name?”

“I know your cousin. In fact, you aren’t supposed to be here, she is.” He ran a hand through his grey hair in frustration.

“You know Sam? She’s so nice! Except that she doesn’t let me have ice cream. But other than that she’s good!” Macy exclaimed.

“Yes, I know. And you’re sure you don’t know where she is?”

Macy shook her head. “She hasn’t been home since last night and she won’t answer her phone. I got bored so I went to visit Jimmy at the bar. Jimmy is my new boyfriend. He’s super cute and he doesn’t care if I eat ice cream!”

The old dude grumbled some curse words to himself and then turned to one of his men. “Keep feeding her junk food to keep her quiet. I don’t want to be able to hear that annoying voice in my office!” He walked away briskly and slammed his office door.

“My voice isn’t annoying!” Macy shouted after him. “It’s just high pitched and I talk a lot!”

“Here’s your ice cream.” Jenkins had returned. “I wasn’t sure which kind you liked so I got five of them for you.”

Macy’s eyes grew wide. “Don’t tell Jimmy this, but I think I love you!”

The Dimes of Port Haven - Day 18

Sam reached into her purse, pulled out the sawed off shotgun and tossed it to Varner. Varner turned gleefully towards Priscilla and pulled the first trigger. Priscilla's eyes bulged in fear and Sam had the distinct pleasure of seeing Priscilla lifted off her feet and blown backwards, her chest full of lead.

Iosef fired his massive revolver and hit Varner in the shoulder, spinning him around like a top. Varner fired the second barrel of the shotgun wildly, peppering Iosef with bullets, but he was farther away than Priscilla had been and the shot wasn't as devastating. Both men went down.

Sam ran to Arthur and stifled a gasp. Arthur was in his underpants and drenched in blood, barely conscious, and muttering incoherently. She pulled him gently off the wagon wheel and he half-fell, half-jumped into a gibbering hug that made it hard for Sam to breathe.

“Arthur...Arthur, you’re choking me!” Sam choked.

“Sorry!” Arthur was crying, his tears streaming down his filthy face to make clean spots in the mud and blood that caked his cheeks. “I wanted you to come, but I really, really hoped that you would just get smart and leave town!”

“Hey! Do I seem like the kind of girl who skips town when somebody needs her?” Sam asked indignantly.

Arthur tried to laugh, but ended up wincing. “I suppose not.” He finally took a moment to look at Sam’s outfit. “Good Lord! What are you wearing? And your hair! What the hell happened while I was out here?”

Sam grinned sheepishly. Arthur was basically drooling over her as he looked her up and down repeatedly, evidently unsure which parts of her he found most appealing. “I needed to flirt my way past Varner’s guards so I could make this deal with him,” she explained.

“Well no wonder it worked!” Arthur exclaimed. “You look incredibly sexy! I mean...not that you don’t always look sexy, it’s just that right now...you know...with your legs in that skirt with the heels and ummm…what I mean to say is that we’re going straight back to your bedroom, right?”

Sam laughed. “Shut up, you idiot. We’re going straight to the hospital, not to bed.”

+

Arthur hadn’t actually expected Sam to take him anywhere besides the hospital, and frankly, he doubted very much that he was in any condition to do anything beyond pass out in a bed. But it had been worth it to see the smile on her face.

A groan from behind Sam made Arthur look over her shoulder. Iosef was trying to rise from the pile of straw he had landed in after being shot, but the task proved too much for him. He leaned forward enough to see in front of him, raised his gun, and fired. Arthur grabbed Sam and spun her around so she was behind him.

Arthur’s right ass cheek suddenly felt like it was on fire. The bullet had grazed his buttock, which was extremely painful, but not as painful as seeing that same bullet travel into Sam’s side and knock her to the ground.

Enraged, Arthur grabbed the nearest weapon at hand, in this case a pitchfork hanging on the barn wall, and rammed it into Iosef’s chest. Iosef collapsed back onto his straw and Arthur scrambled over to where Sam had landed.

“Don’t be dead, don’t be dead,” Arthur pleaded. He knelt beside Sam. Blood was streaming out of her bullet wound. “Oh Jesus!”

“Jesus isn’t going to drive us to the hospital,” Sam groaned. “So get your ass in gear and help me up. And I swear to God if you say I’m too heavy I will kill you right now. You have no idea what I went through to get this skirt on and I’ll be damned if the last thing anyone ever says to me is that I’m fat!”

Arthur pulled Sam to her feet, luckily without incident, and helped her to the truck. The adrenaline from getting shot in the ass was still pumping through his veins as he started the truck and sped off towards the hospital.

+

Not a lot of blood covered men in their mid-twenties wearing only underpants that have a bloody gash across the rear come into the Port Haven emergency room and they certainly aren’t propping up their girlfriend who is dressed like a fashion model except for the gunshot wound to her abdomen. Thus, Arthur felt he owed the people in the waiting room, including the hospital staff, a little grace when most of them screamed.

“We require some fairly severe medical attention,” Arthur explained to the receptionist.

The receptionist, who still hadn’t closed her mouth after seeing Arthur walk through the front doors, hit the button on her phone that activated the intercom and shouted, “A little help out here!”

Half a dozen men and women came running. Three of them took Arthur and thee grabbed Sam. Arthur’s adrenaline was finally wearing off and he felt himself losing consciousness. “Careful,” he muttered sleepily, “she’s a keeper.”

+

Arthur woke up from a terrifyingly vivid dream about Desiree standing over him with a sharp knife and jabbing him in the ribs repeatedly to find Desiree actually standing over him with a sharp knife and jabbing him repeatedly in the ribs to wake him up. Naturally, Arthur screamed and his first instinctive response was to throw the thin blue hospital blanket up at Desiree to block her vision.

Unfortunately, though when Arthur thought about the luck he’d been having lately, not at all unexpectedly, Arthur was naked underneath that blanket. That did not stop him from rolling painfully out of bed and tackling Desiree, wrapping her up in blue cloth. Desiree squirmed and kicked at him from under the blanket while Arthur screamed for help.

Desiree slashed through the blanket with her knife and, still unable to see, began stabbing wildly at Arthur. Having not fully recovered from whatever pain medication the doctors had given him, Arthur jabbed frantically with his bony elbow at where he thought Desiree’s head was. He connected a few times, but then she kneed him in the groin and shoved him off of her so she could flee into the deserted hospital corridor.

Arthur sat on the floor panting and gasping for breath. His ass hurt from where he had been shot and the rest of him hurt from being tortured by Priscilla for hours on end. “Are there no nurses or doctors on this floor?” Arthur shouted at the hallway.

Two nurses came in looking thoroughly confused. Both were exceptionally tall, one a brunette and one a blonde. They looked to be about Arthur’s age, which was confusing to him because he didn’t remember ever seeing them around town before. “You should not be out of bed,” the blonde nurse chided him in a thick russian accent.

The brunette picked Arthur up gently and helped him back into bed. “There was a woman here trying to kill me,” Arthur tried to explain. “See the rip in my blanket? She had a knife!”

Blonde nurse looked skeptically from Arthur to the ripped blanket and back again. “We will get you a new blanket. Are you comfortable?”

“Comfortable? No, I’m not comfortable! My missing friend’s girlfriend just tried to murder me! Again!” Arthur tried to sit up, but the brown haired nurse put a hand on his chest. “Jesus, you’re strong.”

She smiled at him. She had a very warm smile. “You are just exhausted from your ordeal.” Just like the blonde nurse she had a thick russian accent.

“And what an ordeal it was, I’m sure. But how rude of me! I am Nurse Cramer and this is Nurse Duckett,” the blonde nurse told him.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Arthur,” he responded cautiously.

“We know.” Nurse Cramer smiled at him, but unlike Nurse Duckett, her smile did not make him feel at ease. She pointed to his chart. “You’ve been through quite a lot. What exactly happened to you?”

“It’s a long story.” Arthur was having trouble keeping his eyes open again.

“An exciting one though, yes?” Nurse Cramer sat by his bed and put her hand on top of his. Arthur suddenly understood why Nurse Cramer made him feel uncomfortable, it seemed like she was flirting with him and it made him feel supremely ill at ease. Even Sam had never bothered flirting with him, she had simply gotten him drunk and then tricked him into kissing her.

“Sure, lot’s of gunfire and intrigue,” Arthur murmured. “My beautiful girlfriend rescued me, though. Does my chart say anything about her? Is she alright? She got shot in the stomach by the same bullet that hit my ass.” Arthur drifted back to sleep.

+

Teddy Peterson was looking at naughty pictures of Mexican girls with big butts on his phone when the back entrance to the grocery store burst open. Teddy yelped and dropped his phone, but he raised his gun and only sounded a little afraid when he asked, “Who’s there?”

Mr. Varner stepped forward, grabbed Teddy by the throat with his right hand, and shoved him up against the wall. “You ever ask me such a rude question in my own store again and I’ll kill you, do you hear me, you little shit?”

It was obvious that Mr. Varner had been shot in the left shoulder and that he was in a very, very bad mood. “Yes, Mr. Varner, sir!” Teddy gulped nervously.

Varner released him and wandered into his office. He looked like shit, but Teddy wasn’t about to say any such thing. His shirt was covered in blood from his shoulder and his pants were muddy up to the knees like he’d been walking on a dirt road for a really long time.

“Call over to the hospital and get me a doctor sent here who knows how to keep his God-damn mouth shut,” Varner commanded gruffly.